New Sand Will Stabilize Buckroe

HAMPTON — An offshore dredge will start pumping sand from the Chesapeake Bay onto Buckroe Beach this weekend as part of a $485,000 effort to rebuild and stabilize the beach.

Work is expected to last 35 to 45 days. The beach will remain open during that time; areas where work is in progress will be cordoned off to swimmers and sunbathers.

Last week, crews from Cottrell Contracting of Chesapeake moved equipment in place two miles offshore. One dredge will suck sand from a pre-selected site. A 12- to 14-inch plastic pipe stretching 11,500 feet will deposit sand onto the beach.

When completed, a stretch of beach from the observation deck to Pilot Avenue will be three times wider than now, said Thomas H. Daniel, head of Hampton's General Services department, who is overseeing the project for the city.

The project mirrors one completed six years ago. Then, Hampton spent nearly $1 million replenishing the beach.

Over the next month, 80,000 cubic yards of sand will be dumped on the beach, compared to 224,000 cubic yards six years ago. Also, the beach from the observation deck south to Buckroe Pier will remain untouched by the project, Daniel said.

Over time, natural currents should carry and deposit sand from the replenished north beach to the south end, said Rebecca Frencese of URS Consultants, a Virginia Beach firm working with the city.

``In terms of storm design, we are still in good shape on the south end,'' she said.

High costs forced these cutbacks, Daniel said. Still, at approximately $8 per cubic yard, it's cheaper than trucking sand in, which can cost up to $12 a cubic yard, he said.

The beach work coincides with the first weekend of summer vacation for area school children.

Delays in getting permits from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Virginia Marine Resources Commission and other regulatory agencies pushed the start date back, Daniel said.

``We would have like to have done it in May,'' he said. ``The permits never happened, and now we're a month behind.''

Fire and rescue officials are on alert against the possibility of the dredge dumping live bombs onto Buckroe beach. Ammunition from World War II and earlier, much of it launched from Fort Monroe, is buried in the bay bottom, said acting Fire Battalion Chief Lee Webb.

A rash of ammunition sightings followed dredging six years ago, Webb said.

This year, before dredging, engineers took a magnetic survey to find where ammunition might be. Also, Cottrell has placed a screen over its 12- to 14-inch plastic pipe to help prevent any from slipping through.

In the event one does, Webb has some stern advice.

``If you find it, see it, don't touch it. Mark it and tell a lifeguard or call 911,'' he said.

In 1990, dredging offshore sand for beach created a huge hole in the floor of the Chesapeake Bay. Since then, the Virginia Institute of Marine Science has monitored the site. Its studies have shown no ill effects on marine life, said Robert Byrne, director of research for the institute. In fact, more and different kinds returned to the underwater pit, Byrne said.

``Our determination was that the resource value was just as great. In fact, there was a higher density of blue crabs,'' he said.